Badger Nebula - SkyWatcher ED80 with Sony A7S

[MarkS]

Unusual nebula this one   

Tripod mounted full spectrum Sony A7S on Skywatcher ED80 with William Optics focal reducer giving 480mm focal length at f/6.  Shot tonight using infra red illumination after sitting dead silent in the woods for one hour, 15 metres from an entrance to the sett.  1/50sec at ISO 20000. 

Unfortunately, with such a rig, focusing is a manual hit and miss endeavour.







Mark

[ApophisAstros]

That really looks like a badger , that's amazing!!
Winterwatch might like it.
Roger

[Carole]

Amazing photos Mark,

Shot tonight using infra red illumination after sitting dead silent in the woods for one hour,

Amazing tenacity.

Carole

[JohnP]

Excellent Mark - well captured - Paul's a badger man & so will be well impressed...


OK - I know its a Ferret but is close enough

[Fay]

so lucky to have a badger in the garden!

[MarkS]

so lucky to have a badger in the garden!

It's certainly fascinating!  The entrance has been recently dug so that's where I set up the wildlife camera.  The stinky pile of fresh badger poo in a purposely dug latrine not far away was a dead giveaway.   There appears to be a pair of badgers living there.  There's another obvious badger hole (an entrance to a different sett) that has been there since before we moved in but there's never been any activity there.

Those pictures with the Sony take a lot of patience - the previous night I sat in silence in the dark for an hour and a half but they didn't appear.

Mark

[MarkS]

Here's the video that the wildlife camera took at the same time, of the two badgers emerging from the sett.

http://www.markshelley.co.uk/webdisk/Badger20180821.mp4

It was this that provided the IR illumination I needed for the Sony A7S.

Mark

[Carole]

How lovely.

Thanks for sharing this with us Mark.

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Here's the video that the wildlife camera took at the same time, of the two badgers emerging from the sett.

http://www.markshelley.co.uk/webdisk/Badger20180821.mp4

It was this that provided the IR illumination I needed for the Sony A7S.

Mark

Quite amazing. If i had seen it on BBC Winterwatch with the "Chris Packham" commentary i would say its a professional job.
Well Done.
Roger

[MarkS]

Quite amazing. If i had seen it on BBC Winterwatch with the "Chris Packham" commentary i would say its a professional job.

Thanks Roger!

[MarkS]

My wildlife camera is out there 24/7 at the moment.  But something odd happened yesterday morning.  They returned to their burrow at 5am and went inside but a few minutes later they ran out and haven't come back.  It'll be sad if they've moved on.  I'll keep you posted ...

[Carole]

Makes you wonder if an adder or something is in their
burrow and has scared them off.

[ApophisAstros]

or a bigger badger , but i suppose your camera should have spotted it , unless there is another entrance?
Roger

[NoelC]

Bill Oddy would be spitting fur!
More badgers than the he ever had on Springwatch

Only thing that frightens a badger is another badger; most likely they discovered they were on someone elses territory.

[MarkS]

Bodger and Badger reappeared on the wildlife cam last night.  The pair of them were sniffing near the burrow entrance and then disappeared again.  Possibly Alfie (our dog) marking the area with his urine has not helped things.  Anyway I've spotted a freshly dug badger burrow in the neighbouring woods where Alfie does not patrol.  I suspect that's where they de-camped.

Mark